A wide range of handheld layout and marking tools are commercially available from the present invention's assignee Kapro Industries Ltd., Kibbutz Kadarim, Israel (see www.kapro.com>products>layout and marking). One such handheld layout and marking tool is a ruler 10 with a fixed center handgrip 11 as shown in FIG. 1, for example, Kapro's Ruler/Cutting Edge—Model No. 312. Use of such a ruler suffers from the fact that during certain layout and marking applications, for example, cutting a dryboard, trimming a carpet, and the like, the ruler tends to undesirably cant from its intended orientation despite the downward force the user applies to the handgrip to hold the ruler steady. The risk of canting apart from making a layout and marking task more troublesome and time consuming may even lead to personal injury in the case that a cutting implement slips during a cutting operation. To prevent canting, a user typically only uses the ruler's middle region effectively restricting its fly operative length to a fraction of its actual length and thereby requiring that a user move the ruler more times than he would otherwise have to if he could use its entire length.
Different handheld layout and marking tools for layout and marking applications relative a reference line include inter alia framing squares, T-squares, combination squares, bevel squares, and the like. Exemplary framing squares including inter alia Kapro's Framing Square Model No. 307 typically have a fixed L-shaped frame 12 with a headpiece 13 having parallel straight measuring edges and a rule-like member 14 for placing flat on a flat surface possibly with either one of its measuring edges being abutted against a surface, for example, a wall, a skirting board, and the like (see FIGS. 2 and 3). Exemplary T-squares including inter alia Kapro's Dry Wall T-Square—Model No. 316 typically have a fixed T-shaped frame 16 with a headpiece 17 and a rule-like member 18 for abutment of the headpiece's front wall against an edge of a flat surface, for example, a plasterboard, a plank, and the like, and the placing of the rule-like member flat on the flat surface (see FIGS. 4 and 5). The fixed nature of framing and T-squares inconveniences users during their transportation and moreover a user is further often inconvenienced that he has to carry both tools for different layout and marking applications.